The Storm
by LesbianLuna
Summary: A collection of drabbles focused on love before, during and after the wars. Written for the Valentine Drabble Collection Competition on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum. Andromeda/Lily, Fleur/Ginny/Luna, Dean/Pansy, Hannah/Padma and Lorcan/Rose.
1. AndromedaLily

_Prompt - Smoke_

"That's disgusting, you know."

Andromeda raises her eyebrows and takes a long, deliberate drag of her cigarette.

"It'll kill you," Lily continues, hopping up on the garden wall next to her and kicking her heels against the stone, "and it smells bad."

"Go back inside then."

"It tastes bad too."

Andromeda considers this. "Are you asking me to choose between you and the cigarette? Because that's not going to end well for you."

She stubs it out on the wall, though. It's a habit she picked up during her O. W. Ls and that she falls back on in times of stress, but ten years into a war and it's getting expensive. _Yeah,_ she thinks to herself, _that's why you want to quit, nothing to do with her._ Lily smiles and scoots closer so their shoulders knock together.

"Thank you. I'd hate for you to survive a war only to die from lung cancer."

Andromeda rolls her eyes and wraps an arm around Lily's shoulders. "Do I get a kiss now?" she asks.

Lily's eyes find her lips and linger there for a second, and this is still new enough to make Andromeda's heart beat faster with anticipation.

Lily smiles cheekily and pulls away. "After you've had a mint."


	2. FleurGinnyLuna

_Prompt - Elegant_

Luna thrills as Ginny grabs her hand and pulls her into the ballroom, face alight with excitement. A little anxiety squeezes her heart, but it's so late now that the dance floor is almost empty and Flitwick pretends not to see her. She doesn't miss the small wink he throws her though.

"I love this song," Ginny says, wrapping her arms around Luna's neck. Luna had a growth spurt this term and it feels natural to wrap her arms around Ginny's waist and smile down at her. They sway on the spot, barely moving, but none of the other couples are dancing properly either anymore so nobody pays them any mind.

"Was it wonderful?" Luna asks, looking wistfully at the streamers now straggling along the floor and the candles almost burnt out.

"Yes, but it would have been better if you'd been here. Neville kept stepping on my feet."

Luna carefully spins them around, glancing down to check she's not doing the same. She looks up again at the sound of a trilling laugh. Fleur Delacour is dancing with Rodger Davies in the middle of the floor, laughing delightedly at something he's said. Luna's not sure what it could be, since Rodger looks like he's been hit on the head by a Bludger and not up to joking. Fleur is radiant, her cheeks flushed and her elegant robes swirling around her ankles.

"Could she be more obvious?" Ginny says, not bothering to keep her voice down, but Luna doesn't miss the way Ginny's eyes flick over Fleur before looking away.

"I don't think she's so bad," Luna says. "It was smart the way she got past that dragon."

"Not you too," Ginny says, screwing up her face.

Luna shrugs and pulls her closer. "She's pretty, but so are you."

Ginny rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. "She might be pretty," she concedes, "but she's still obvious."

"I don't think she really likes him at all," Luna says, sneaking another glance at the couple. "I think she'd like someone with a bit more fire."


	3. DeanPansy

_Prompt - Light  
This was also inspired by a passage from Gravity's Rainbow (specifically the line "They are in love. Fuck the war.") I haven't read it, but I saw the passage on tumblr and loved it._

He can't usually risk any light, Snatchers always on the look out, so at first she makes her way in the dark. After the third scraped knee though, she persuades Draco through a carefully employed net of blackmail, nagging and crocodile tears to lend her his Hand of Glory. Draco's pale and too thin when he gives it to her and, uncomfortably touched, she rests a hand on his shoulder for a second. He meets her eyes for the first time, and she realises he knows.

"Don't be stupid, Pans," he says.

She gives him a hard smile. "That's your job."

So now she picks her way through the forest with a light to show her the way. Dean's waiting outside his tent, a scrappy thing that's almost as small on the inside as it is on the outside. She calls his name softly and his face breaks into a smile as he turns on his torch to see her.

"Turn that off, here hold this with me."

She sits beside him on the hard earth and guides his hand so it rests over hers, and he can see.

"Cool! Where'd you get this? What is it?"

"It gives light only to the one holding it."

They've gotten good at dodging questions and good at knowing when not to push.

"I've missed you," he says quietly.

The candlelight reflects golden in his dark eyes and his body is warm where it's pressed against hers.

"I've missed you too," she says.

When he kisses her, she thinks, wildly, that this could be enough. The whole world is falling apart and as long as she gets to keep him, she doesn't care. Fuck Voldemort. Fuck the DA and the Order. Fuck the war.


	4. HannahPadma

_Prompt - Hollow_

The skeleton of Hogwarts looms above Padma, an open dollhouse revealing rooms smashed into one, staircases snapped in half, broken dolls lying where they fell. Around her people move wearily over the scorched grass, clearing bricks and broken glass without making a difference.

A burning, helpless fury is straining the seams of Padma's body, making her want to stamp her feet and wail like she's a child again and doing so will bring over Mother who can fix anything. This can't be fixed though, and so she doesn't know what to do with herself.

Hannah comes up beside her and takes one of her clenched fists in warm hands, rubbing along her knuckles until some of the tension leaks out of her.

"We'll rebuild," she says, linking their fingers together. "We've still got each other, and that's the only thing that can't be replaced."

"Hundreds of years of magic destroyed in one day," Padma says hollowly. "The people who built this place were the finest witches and wizards in history, and the records are almost definitely destroyed. How can that be rebuilt?"

"They taught us well."

Padma looks at Hannah, takes in the hard set of her jaw, the blazing determination in her normally mild eyes. Despite herself, she feels the stirrings of hope.

"Do you really think so?"

With a strength Padma admires above all else, Hannah manages a smile.

"I really do."


	5. LorcanRose

_Prompt - "Don't worry about it"_

"I'm so sorry."

Lorcan stares at what remains of the Blibbering Humdinger egg, the only one known to be in existence, the one he spent seven years looking for and finally found after four near-death experiences and three weeks searching a complex system of cave tunnels in Russia. There are three shards big enough to be recognisable, the rest is dust.

"Don't worry about it," he says numbly.

Rose wrings her hands. "I'm really, really sorry."

"It's fine."

He bends down, intending to gather the biggest pieces and leave the rest to sweep up later, but he can't bring himself to. He swallows and stands up again.

"It's fine. It's just an egg."

Rose tentatively reaches out, touching her fingertips to his wrist. "I'll… I'll go to Russia and get you a new one," she says weakly.

"They don't come in clutches."

She drops her hand, but he catches it before it can fall, making himself look her in the face. She's pale and her eyes are round as coins, desperately guilty.

"What were you doing?" he asks, biting down on the anger rising inside him.

"I was trying to clear some space so I can look at this room properly."

It's his office, the only spare room in the house, and filled with various samples from his trips and his mother's trips before his.

"Why?"

"I needed to see if it was big enough."

"Big enough for what?"

She hesitates. "I didn't want to tell you like this. But, well, maybe it'll cheer you up. I'm pregnant. I wanted to see if the room was big enough for a nursery."

It takes him a moment to comprehend. Then all thoughts of eggs and Blibbering Humdingers are wiped away by the warm tide of feeling washing over him. A grin stretches his face, identical to one Rose is now sporting. He steps forward towards her, and there's a loud crack that makes him jump away again.

One of the remaining pieces of egg is gone, crushed beneath his shoe. Rose's hands are pressed over her mouth and she looks like she's trying not to laugh.

"I don't even care," he says, stepping over the rest of it and pulling her into a hug. "Who cares about Blibbering babies when we've got one of our own."


End file.
